Israel Strikes Alleged Syrian Military Structures. It Says the Buildings Violated a 1974 Cease-fire

An Israeli tank is positioned near the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip during clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli soldiers, as it is seen from the Israeli side September 20, 2023. REUTERS/Amir Cohen
An Israeli tank is positioned near the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip during clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli soldiers, as it is seen from the Israeli side September 20, 2023. REUTERS/Amir Cohen
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Israel Strikes Alleged Syrian Military Structures. It Says the Buildings Violated a 1974 Cease-fire

An Israeli tank is positioned near the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip during clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli soldiers, as it is seen from the Israeli side September 20, 2023. REUTERS/Amir Cohen
An Israeli tank is positioned near the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip during clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli soldiers, as it is seen from the Israeli side September 20, 2023. REUTERS/Amir Cohen

The Israeli military said tanks struck two structures inside a demilitarized zone in Syria on Thursday, claiming the buildings violated a half-century-old cease-fire agreement between the two countries.
The structures, it said, were being used by the Syrian military, amounting to what the army called a “clear violation” of the 1974 cease-fire. The Israeli army did not provide any information on what the structures were used for or when they were built, The Associated Press said.
In Syria, the pro-government Sham FM radio station said Israel’s military struck an area on the edge of the Syrian side of the Golan Heights in the village of Hadar. It said there were no casualties.
The 1974 agreement established a demilitarized separation zone between Israeli and Syrian forces, stationing a UN peacekeeping force there to maintain calm.
Assaf Orion, a retired Israeli general and research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, said the strike did not mark a major escalation. The Israeli military often strikes what it says are Iranian-linked targets in Syria.
“It’s just a small match in a much larger fireworks show,” Orion said.
He said both the structures and the Israeli strike violated the cease-fire agreement, which bans both sides from military activity in the demilitarized territory.
The agreement is credited with officially ending the 1973 Mideast war, when a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria launched an attack on Israel on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar. Israel is marking the 50th anniversary of the war next week, based on the Hebrew calendar.
Israel and Syria are bitter enemies, though the cease-fire has largely held for the past five decades.
Also on Thursday, Syrian media reported that Israeli drones targeted two people riding a motorcycle in the Syrian capital of Damascus.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said the Israeli strike killed two members of Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian militant group backed by Iran, near the village of Beit Jin in southern Syria.
Islamic Jihad official Ismail Abu-Mujahed denied that any of their operatives were killed in southern Syria.
The Israeli army declined to comment on the reports.



At Least 15 Killed in Suicide Bombing at Damascus Church

A Syrian man reacts inside Mar Elias church where a suicide bomber detonated himself in Dweila in the outskirts of Damascus, Syria, Sunday June 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
A Syrian man reacts inside Mar Elias church where a suicide bomber detonated himself in Dweila in the outskirts of Damascus, Syria, Sunday June 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
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At Least 15 Killed in Suicide Bombing at Damascus Church

A Syrian man reacts inside Mar Elias church where a suicide bomber detonated himself in Dweila in the outskirts of Damascus, Syria, Sunday June 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
A Syrian man reacts inside Mar Elias church where a suicide bomber detonated himself in Dweila in the outskirts of Damascus, Syria, Sunday June 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)

At least 15 people were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the Mar Elias Church in the Dweila neighborhood of Syria's capital Damascus on Sunday, security sources said.

Syria's interior ministry said the suicide bomber was an ISIS member. He entered the church, opened fire and then detonated his explosive vest, the ministry added in a statement.

A security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said two men were involved in the attack, including the one who blew himself up.

Syria's state news agency cited the health ministry as putting the preliminary casualty toll at nine dead and 13 injured.

Some local media reported that children were among the casualties.

A livestream from the site by Syria's civil defense, the White Helmets, showed scenes of destruction from within the church, including a bloodied floor and shattered church pews and masonry.

Syrian Information Minister Hamza Mostafa condemned the attack, calling it a terrorist attack.

“This cowardly act goes against the civic values that brings us together,” he said in a post on X. “We will not back down from our commitment to equal citizenship ... and we also affirm the state’s pledge to exert all its efforts to combat criminal organizations and to protect society from all attacks threatening its safety.”